Anne-Marie Slaughter, a former director of policy planning in the US State Department (2009-2011), is President and CEO of the think tank New America, Professor Emerita of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University, and the author of Unfinished Business: Women Men Work Family.

Comments

If we want to increase gender equality we need to make the career costs of care compulsory. Men who are CEOs and fathers should be forced to take paternity leave. Yes, even Elon Musk! You'll see a massive jump in equality if care costs are unavoidable like taxes and insurance and not "discretionary" points on which employees can compete. Read more

I find it interesting that you speak of the need to elevate the value of the care giving and then proceed to consider it a minor activity...hence the explanation for women inequality.

Is there women inequality in the workforce, yes there are, but there are also many other forms of discrimination, race, beauty, family names, wealth, etc etc

Instead of focusing in one group alone, we should be pushing for transparency, The publishing of wages in companies, publication of performance appraisals, etc

I would also want to repudiate the idea that care giving is some sort of minor activity, quite the opposite, not also is high value but taking care of ours is one of the most rewarding occupations we can have and in the contrary being part of the corporate world is one of the most violent, alienating activities man can have. Read more

thanks for good info.....In Bangladesh, already changed difference rules ,now women get 6 month maternity paid leave for first child and 3 month paid leave for second child.Rule 197(1) of the [Bangladesh Service Rules (as amended 9 January 2011) provides for female Government servants six months and the Bangladesh Labour Act, 2006 section 46, provides for a female workers 16 weeks maternity leave.] and paternity paid leave is 15 days for first two child. our government and citizen are now more conscious about wome'sn job opportunities and salary range. that why women are now more self dependent than past Read more

Why should anyone care how my partner(s) and I divide up the work of making money and raising children? Neither the government, nor the academics, nor the church, nor my neighbors, nor my boss knows what's best for my family.

The nice thing about Dear Abby - she doesn't give you advice unless you ask her to. Read more

Unfortunately, the acceptance of the first half of gender equality - having women flood into the workforce at all levels - was accepted by the Powers That Be not out of a real belief in equality, but because it added to the number of worker-units competing for jobs. This naturally leads to the results that Ms. Slaughter points out - conforming women to the male treadmill of work above all, and relegating caregiving to something that should be farmed out for pay in a manner that increases the nominal GDP (if woman number 1 gets a minimum wage job and pays woman #2 , who formerly held that minimum wage job, to look after her child, GDP increases.) Few bothered to even suggest that, instead, stay-at-home mothers might be given more respect and support and be encouraged to use the moments when the kids were in school to engage in the more liberated intellectual activities that lead to human advancement, or that men might devote more time to caregiving. The media and politicians will not support a move towards changing the male model of behavior or towards respecting the importance of caregiving until workers regain market power, as to which see http://digitalcommons.pace.edu/plr/vol35/iss3/4/ . It's always about money. Read more

Well articulated points. But don't hold your breath waiting for American culture to put enough value on care giving for single Moms or husbands to be able to devote more time/energy into it. It's going to take much longer for that to happen than it will for women to get equal pay for equal work. Read more

So what is the next step, men should be forced to breastfeed their children (think of Robert De Niro in "Meet the Fockers")...... Just when you think that things can't get more absurd someone, like the author, proves you wrong. Read more

I'd be interested to know if the English-speaking world as as much of an outlier as my experience has shown me, compared with say continental Europe, when it comes to 'work' being the meaning of both life and individual, with a relative devaluing of the personal and humane. Having spent several decades in 'high-tech' work, I know the insane time and effort demands made on us; families are simply an impediment, and no, you can't go home 'early' (dinnertime!) just because the kid's in a school play. It's curious that the US, which prides itself on 'family' or 'Christian' values, in practice shows contempt for families and is in many ways 'unChristian' in terms of the value given to the humane. The individual; yes. The individual in the larger context of a family; no.One reason why men are less likely to go into a caregiving profession is that such work simply doesn't pay - certainly not enough for a mortgage in any of the larger, more desirable cities. And that's before the costs of raising children are taken into account. 'Machismo' is certainly part of it, too - certainly until recently, males who went into nursing were termed 'male nurses' - it seemed necessary to emphasize their masculinity in the light of a 'feminine' work category. The guy might be a - well, you know what I mean. (Being one, I certainly do.) This has changes somewhat. But the top of most career paths becomes administrative; there is no 'parallel' tacking whereby one could choose to continue exercising one's skill and training, and be as rewarded as those who took the same skills administration-wards. All this of course is cultural; and changing culture is the most difficult of human tasks. The good news is that it's been successfully done over the past few decades, in the formerly drop-dead-don't-go-there fields of sex and sexuality. But the topics in the column are very much a work in fairly early progress. Read more

Why not register an account with us, too? You'll be able to follow individual authors (to receive notifications whenever they publish new articles) and subscribe to more specific, topic-based newsletters.

Project Syndicate provides readers with original, engaging, and thought-provoking commentaries by global leaders and thinkers. By offering incisive perspectives from those who are shaping the world’s economics, politics, science, and culture, Project Syndicate has created an unrivaled global venue for informed public debate.